Hi! I have a question, I exported a step file, and it showed no colors in KiCAD, but it showed colors in FreeCAD, why is that? How do I have to export the step file, that KiCAD recognizes the colors? (I’ve exported from Rhino, which is way better in any aspect than FreeCAD, so my guess is that its a kiCAD issue)
Would you mind to post a step model here?
maui! Of course, here it is https://ufile.io/83c911 I’ve colorized the middle part of the button golden (in Rhino 3D), just as it is in reality: https://puu.sh/sYJFC/d0d14fa374.png But KiCAD seems to ignore that color, https://puu.sh/sYJJN/2304bcab11.png I don’t know why.
hi,
the step file seems to be wrong…
tested with design spark mechanical, varicad and freecad…
IME FreeCAD is much reliable than Rhino in STEP modelling…
moreover, internal OCE plugin is much closer to FreeCAD in terms of compatibility … OCE is the same kernel of FreeCAD and has been developed following kicad StepUp development in STEP exporting …
Check when exporting to use AP214 and NOT AP203 (which is missing colors)
In addition to what @maui already seid, FreeCAD and Rhino have different modeling strategies. Rhino is a free-form surface modeling software. Freecad is a solid based parametric modeler.
Freecad is getting better with each new release. But like all open source projects, only stuff the developers need will get implemented.
If you want to compare parametric solid modelers to surface based modelers you should compare rhino to something like pro-e, catia or siemens nx.
All of them are quite expensive. All of them are more than just cad tools.
Catia also includes a good free form surface modeler (which has the added benefit of being parametric).
@Rene_Poschl have a look at here
http://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16473&start=90#p149589
microelly2 is doing very well in surface modelling 
Nurbs editor
1 Like
STEP AP203e2 has colors since it takes some elements from AP214. However, I doubt that OCE correctly handles AP203e2. Just to make things even more complicated, AP242 was introduced a few years ago, AP214 was deprecated when AP203e2 was introduced, and soon AP203e2 will also be marked deprecated in favor of AP242. How soon AP203 will be deprecated is anyone’s guess - my SolidWorks2016 doesn’t have AP242 support yet.
Thanks guys. I always exported with the default setting which is AP214. So who is the culprit here, the OCE plugin, which cannot import color from the Rhino STEP export? Or Rhino, in not beeing capable to export with colors in the standard fashion? I’m abit confused about 3D file format standards.
It would help if you could post a trivial Rhino STEP export file here, something simple like a rectangular block to keep the file size down
the STEP file you uploaded on ufile.io is just a plane…
you always need to check your model after an exporting operation…
there are some sw to check the model …
Designspark mechanical, Varicad, CADAssistant etc…
and some online viewers…
The file on ufile looks far more complex than just a plane. Gedit shows many unexpected line breaks that might be messing things up
It’s difficult to tell where the problem is. Although OCE (and other 3D kernels) will correctly import the geometry, there is no guarantee that they will handle color correctly. Every 3D kernel still seems to handle color information differently.depending on whether the color used was defined as a general color, part color, surface color, line color etc.
The line breaks shouldn’t be a problem; they should be treated the same as white space. The plane looks fine to me as well; it’s colored grey exactly as the file specifies and if I change the color in the file, the plane renders with a different color.
Hi! Maui, I guess I did something wrong when you can’t see anything else than a plan Here is the file again, (again exported from Rhino): https://ufile.io/657b4
Hi maui!
““Colors are fine in FreeCAD but not in OCE kicad plugin…””
Yes, exactly. That is my main problem. From what I’ve heard so far I can’t use Rhino to colorize
the STEP-models I want to import in Kicad. Because Rhino saves color information as polysurface,
while FreeCAD and KiCAD look on single faces instead. I guess I have no other option than to colorize in FreeCAD, then.
I suspect the problem is that Rhino assigned the color to the bounding curve rather than the surface. The kicad plugin ignores colors assigned to curves (or any other primitives used by a face). The STEP export should still look OK in FreeCAD even if the rendering in kicad is different. If I find some time I’ll try to fix it; this is an extremely low priority for me though since my only interest is in having a mechanical model.
this is a bug in kicad oce plugin…
FreeCAD can read and display correctly colors for your rhino exported model
about Rhino in general, as @Rene_Poschl as already pointed out,
because its modeling is based on surfaces, it seems that also STEP export will produce SURFACES and not SOLID
I’m not familiar with Rhino, and I don’t know if you can select an option to export step as solid…
going a bit deeper in the analysis, the Rhino exported model has volume=0 because is generated as shells and not solid…
what is normally exported from FreeCAD is a solid object
ATM there is no easy way to convert a shell model to solid in FC…
for mechanical development and ecad mcad collaboration, probably a solid approach in modelling would be the best…
1 Like
Hm, according to their website they also do solids.
Question is if @eszett is able to convert his switch/button model into a solid before exporting.
Or to see if that is feasible at all, try a test run with some of the solid primitives, export them to step and see how that works out…
Picking this thread up for future internet travelers.
I found a way to solve this problem and documented it here: https://github.com/alorman/Ki_Cad_Docs/tree/main/using_rhino_with_kicad
TLDR; you need to use closed Breps
1 Like